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City Mission

City Mission refers to the missions run by various Christian denominations in urban and suburban settings. Many of the city missions established in nineteenth-century Australia continue to operate community services organisations in the 2010s. The London City Mission was founded in 1835, with a mandate to ‘extend the knowledge of the Gospel among the inhabitants…

Uncontrollable

Uncontrollable is a term used in child welfare legislation and in child welfare files. It was generally used by authorities to describe a child believed to be undisciplined. Being uncontrollable could be a reason for a child to be deemed neglected and made a ward of the state in court. Parents and guardians could declare…

In Moral Danger

In Moral Danger (sometimes abbreviated as IMD) was a term in common use in government departments and welfare agencies in the twentieth century. It referred to one of the categories of a ‘child in need of care and protection’ under the various child welfare acts in Australian states and territories. Being ‘exposed to moral danger’…

Child Guidance Clinic

Child guidance clinics were first established in Australia in the 1930s. Such clinics had been developed in the United States in the 1920s, for the diagnosis and treatment of mild behaviour and emotional problems in school-aged children (Wright, 2012). An important motive in the development of child guidance clinics was to counteract ‘juvenile delinquency’, but…

Apprenticeship

Apprenticeship was the practice of sending children in institutions or foster care into placements with employers once they were too old to attend school. It was not a trade apprenticeship as such, and generally meant children were sent to live in a private home to work as a farm labourer (for boys) or a domestic…

Mission Australia

Mission Australia was formed in 1996 when Sydney City Mission, Adelaide City Mission, Wollongong City Mission, Perth City Mission (also known as Jesus People Inc.), Brisbane City Mission, Mission Australia Northern New South Wales, Mission Australia Southern New South Wales, Mission Australia Group Training and Mission Employment all joined forces. It provides a range of…

Presbyterian Church of Australia

The Presbyterian Church of Australia was formed in 1901, shortly after Federation. The Presbyterian Church of Australia is a Protestant Christian church, with roots in Scotland. The Presbyterian Church formed a Social Services Department in the 1940s that ran aged care, hospital and court chaplaincies and children’s homes such as St Andrew’s Boys’ Home in…

Uniting Church in Australia

The Uniting Church in Australia was inaugurated in 1977, following the union of members of the Methodist Church, the Congregational Church and some congregations of the Presbyterian Church from all states and territories. A number of welfare programmes linked with the member churches are now connected with the Uniting Church in Australia.

St Vincent de Paul Society

The St Vincent de Paul Society is a Catholic religious organisation with a volunteer base who work to assist people in need and counter social injustice. The Society of St Vincent de Paul established its first conference in Australia in Melbourne in 1854. It then established conferences across the country, with one in New South…

Child Endowment

Child Endowment was a non-means tested, universal allowance introduced by the Commonwealth government in 1941. The Child Endowment Act 1941 provided that a sum of 5 shillings per week, for each child after the first under the age of 16 years, be paid directly to the mother. Under the original legislation, child endowment could not…